Case 112: Dial H for Hero #12
Dial Holders: Miguel Montez, Summer Pickens, Mister Thunderbolt
Dial Type: Cardinal H-Dials (Y-Dial, C-Dial, K-Dial, H-Dial), M-Dial (M for Multiverse), Chromium H-Dial
Dialing: The M-Dial is a short stone column with an inset dial and flowing receiver, on a platform in the Overvoid surrounding the Multiverse and from which one can see all of reality, past, present and future. The Dial thus affects all people at all times in every reality. Though it looks like a rotary dial, the numbers are pressed, but it takes normal-sized fingers to get to the buttons (which look like colored images of various dimensions), none of your big sausages. Dialing H-O-P-E brings hope to the entire multiverse. For the Dialer(s), this hope may give them their wish (for example, allow them to escape the Overvoid). People lost in a K-hole (to which the K-Dial has sent them) can escape if they put their minds to it, and for a short while, this will give them dial identities that shift every few seconds (these do not have to be superheroic, as Summer becomes a Mary Jane Watson analog at some point). Putting the cyan receiver on the yellow phone, the yellow receiver on the red phone, the red on the black, etc. and dialing C-M-Y-K can make a chosen target color-separate and find himself trapped in a comic book version of their story (they may be aware of this, like Grant Morrison's Animal Man). The Chromium H-Dial is introduced and allows the Operator to pull Summer and Miguel out of the Multiversal flux. The less we know about it the better, apparently (but the mind reels).
Look: A cross between Olive Oil and Popeye, with the forearms of the latter. She is accompanied by a creature that is essentially Krazy Kat, but with longer, rabbit-like ears (Krazy Rabbit, Trix are for kids?!). They seem to be monochromatic, though that may just be the "lighting" from the K-hole.
Powers: Hustle Buddy is super-strong thanks to eating spinach that activates her powers. Her sidekick is a mean brick-thrower.
Sighted: Coming out of the Undervoid to attack Mister Thunderbolt.
Possibilities: Based on famous comic strip characters, it's hard to imagine them hanging around the the DC Universe proper.
Integration Quotient: 0% (not a chance)
Costume: Imagine Doomsday with a full head of hair, tattered red cap and gloves, a black sleeveless leotard, and various bits of tubing in the Cable style, with two yellow lights on the chest that bring us back to Thor perhaps.
Powers: Likely superstrong and invulnerable, he might also be able to call the lightning, but it doesn't happen. He is about twice as tall as a normal person.
Sighted: In the Overvoid fighting Summer, and unable to use the M-Dial on account of his size.
Possibilities: The popularity of The Death of Superman means writers want to bring Doomsday back. And they have, in cloned numbers, and even gave a young Doomsday type his own short-lived book. So why not ThunderDoom, a guy infected with some kind of Doomsday DNA virus, an antihero who at least pretends to be a Norse god because he thinks that stuff is really cool. As his series progresses, he gets more and more monstrous, kind of a Hulk narrative with a definite endgame.
Integration Quotient: 40% (I don't WANT another Doomsday, but it's at least possible)
Next: Oh you thought it was over? Join us next week as Miguel and Summer join Young Justice!
Comments